Respect or Regret?
by Aubrie1234
Summary: The Hunters try to hunt a strange digimon, but it doesn't go so well. The digimon has a grudge against humans with wolf/dog-like digimon partners and uses a curse to try to show them how much they should respect their digimon. Now it's put the curse on one of the Hunters. Will he learn to respect his digimon, or will he regret it? Two of my OCs are also in the story.
1. Chapter 1

Respect or Regret?

By: Aubrie1234

**Dear Readers, another Digimon story! What can I say, the main character is Ryouma! What I don't get is why my favorite characters are Matt (seasons 1 and 2), Takuya (season 4), Thomas (season 5), Christopher (season 6), and Ryouma (season 7 [not sure if it's apart of season 6 or if it's just its own season]). Anyway, I made up a digimon just for this story, who I dub ShamanWereGarurumon, and Ryouma's little sister, Ava. And one more thing! **_**Matsuri Kazehana**_**, I would like to tell you that my beginning for this story is sort-of based on your story,**_** Digimon Xros Wars: Toki wo Kakeru SHOJO Hunter-tachi!**_**.**

* * *

"This way, guys!"

"We're coming, we're coming!"

Tagiru, Mikey, and Yuu were with their digimon and were chasing after a wild one. Tagiru and Arresterdramon almost got lost, until Yuu showed them the right direction. Overhead, standing atop one of the many crumbling buildings of DigiQuartz, were Ryouma, Red, and Airu. They were also after the digimon, but were waiting until they cornered it before they could help. It was a bit of a strategy they devised after the Quartzmon Incident, as they liked to call it.

"Who do you think is going to get to it first?"

"My bet is on Mikey, though Yuu has a considerable chance."

"I bet you five yen that Yuu gets to it first."

"You're on. Seven on Mikey."

"Why are you two betting?" Ryouma asked his two teammates with a raised eyebrow.

"We're betting on who will get to the digimon first. I think it'll be Yuu." Airu said.

"Mikey's still got it in his sights, so I think he'll get there first." Ren said.

"I'll honestly say, I never thought you two would ever bet, let alone on which Hunter can get to a digimon first." Ryouma shook his head, "But, we might as well get down there and help them out now, since the digimon has stopped running. And P.S., Tagiru managed to get to the digimon first." That last comment made both of them sigh.

"Should have known it'd be Tagiru."

"Him, the underdog. Ugh..."

* * *

Anyway, Mikey's group managed to catch up to the digimon, who was actually waiting for them in the abandoned street.

"Why are you chasing me?" it asked. It was completely covered by a brown cloak except its hand (which had four fingers [including a thumb] and whitish-blue and dark blue striped fur), which was holding onto a staff with a round, gold jewel at the end. Its eyes were the only other thing they could see of it, since they were glowing yellowish-orange.

"We're Hunters. We hunt digimon who come to DigiQuartz and cause trouble." Mikey said.

"I haven't caused any trouble, so why are you chasing me?" That made the two seniors think, while Tagiru was getting a bit impatient. As they thought, the digimon smirked under its cloak. It then jumped at them, swinging its staff.

"_Battering Staff!_" it said. The Hunters quickly moved out of the way, barely missing getting hit.

"He's _not_ on our side." Arresterdramon said.

"We might as well hunt him, then." OmegaShoutmon said. Just then, the second group of Hunters were now catching up to them. Astamon prepared his guns.

"_Hellfire!_" he said, firing at the digimon. It easily dodged, but narrowed its eyes at him. He flinched slightly.

"Ryouma, I don't have a good feeling about this digimon. Maybe we shouldn't hunt it." he said. The boy acknowledged it, but he wasn't sure about it himself.

"_Crescent Kick!_" the digimon suddenly shouted, hurling a crescent-shaped wave of moonlight at them. They dodged, but the digimon used this to its advantage. It used its speed to get close to them and attacked them from different angles, knocking them all out. The only ones left standing were Astamon and Ryouma (who was on the digimon's shoulder). They were both amazed and scared. Astamon put his right hand on Ryouma, trying to make both him and himself feel safer.

"Is this the best the greatest hunters of DigiQuartz can do? Pathetic. But," the mysterious digimon said before turning his eyes onto the still-standing duo, "Are you treating your digimon with respect, human?"

"What?" Ryouma asked, surprised.

"I said, do you treat your digimon partner with respect?" it repeated.

"I-I don't really know. I've never been asked that question before..." Ryouma muttered, casting his eyes downward.

"Ryouma..." Astamon hissed, gently squeezing his hand. He wanted his partner to keep an eye on the digimon, not look away from it. Ryouma flinched, but quickly looked up and back at the digimon. If they could have seen it, the digimon raised an eyebrow at their behavior.

"Ryouma does treat me with respect. Why did you even ask that question?" Astamon asked, free hand trailing down to rest on his gun. He didn't want to take any chances with this digimon, since it managed to defeat five of their friends so quickly.

"I've seen what humans do to their digimon partners in the past and it seems to me those who have wolf or dog-like digimon treat them with the least respect, like they were only pets or tools. It has become my job to teach those certain humans to respect their digimon." it explained before raising its staff out in front of it horizontally, "And it looks to me that your human partner needs a few lessons of his own." Before either of the duo could do anything, the digimon swept his staff sideways and then in an upwards arc towards the ground. Once the jewel hit the dirt, it shined a bright blue and a weird beam shot out of it and struck the two. They instantly felt major pain and cried out. It was unrelenting until they both collapsed from unconsciousness. Before Astamon blacked out he heard the digimon say one more thing:

"By the way, I'm ShamanWereGarurumon." it said, then he only saw total darkness.

* * *

When he woke up, he found the others (except Ryouma) had awoken and had taken them to an apartment building in DigiQuartz so they could recover. He also found out that he had dedigivolved back into Psychemon. But, his waking up wasn't so smooth.

"RYOUMA!" Psychemon yelled suddenly, shooting up on the couch the others had placed him on. They all jerked their heads in his direction worriedly.

"Calm down, Psychemon. Ryouma's okay." Shoutmon said to the digimon, whose eyes were wide and fearful.

"Are...are you sure, Shoutmon?"

"We're sure." Mikey answered. Psychemon sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness. I was having nightmares about what that digimon might have done to Ryouma."

"So you were knocked out before Ryouma was?" Opossumon asked.

"No, but we weren't knocked out when all of you were. Now that I think about it, I remember the digimon's name."

"Who was it, then? I have an awful feeling it was a digimon that I once knew, after I saw its attacks and how it moved." Gumdramon said, crossing his arms.

"It was ShamanWereGarurumon, I think." At that, all the color in Gumdramon's face drained away.

"Oh man... I can't believe it was him, of all the digimon we could have faced!" he ranted.

"What are you talking about, Gumdramon?" Tagiru asked. The little dragon sighed.

"I'll tell you guys, but _please_ don't tell anyone else!" he begged. When the others nodded, though they gave him strange looks, he continued.

"ShamanWereGarurumon is a digimon who isn't like others. When I was still the Wild Child of the DigiWorld and Betsumon was still working with me, we got wind of a digimon who needed some help taking down some bad digimon guarding a warehouse. The thing was, the bad digimon were actually the police, and high-ranked officers, too. We didn't know that until we finished beating them up, though. After that, ShamanWereGarurumon showed up. Once I realized the digimon we had beaten up were apart of the police, I knew we had gotten mixed up with the wrong sort and I tried to stop him. He beat me so easily it was like he was going on a relaxing walk. Betsumon helped me get away, since ShamanWereGarurumon knocked me out, and later we found out that we were the ones held accountable for a robbery in that same warehouse."

"I heard about that. It was one of the best selling top stories in the DigiNewspapers.** 'Wild Child and Wardrobe Wrangler Steal Locket of Caninemon'**, as the newspaper heading was." Dracmon added. Gumdramon nodded.

"Yeah, and after that, I wanted to look into who ShamanWereGarurumon was and what he stole. Turns out he was a assassin digimon and had a high rep as a crimelord. Not the best digimon you want to face, I'll tell you that. Anyway, the Locket of Caninemon is a small yellow orb with mysterious powers, as I found out."

"That small jewel on the end of his staff, do you think that was the Locket of Caninemon?" Ren asked.

"I sure do."

"The strange thing is, though, is how all of this went unnoticed by ME." Shoutmon said sternly, glaring at the little dragon, who shrunk away from his king's glare.

"Were there any recordings on the Locket's powers?" Psychemon asked.

"No, not at all. Why?"

"Well, this might come as a shock..." Psychemon then explained to them the exchange between him, Ryouma, and ShamanWereGarurumon up to the point where they were knocked out.

"Looks like ShamanWereGarurumon has learned how to use the Locket." Yuu said sadly.

"But that means we have to keep an eye on Ryouma and Psychemon, dame dame." Damemon said.

"How did we get ourselves caught up in this?" Airu groaned.

"I have no idea, but Damemon's right. Someone has to look after us. By the way, where _is_ Ryouma?" Psychemon asked, worriedly looking around the room.

"In the bedroom next door." Tagiru instructed. The digimon was gone before he even finished.

"Should we go after him?"

"Leave him be. He'll want to be alone with Ryouma for a while before he'll want company." Shoutmon said before turning to Gumdramon, "Now, will you please explain how all of that criminal stuff went unnoticed by me?"

"Uh...um...well, you see..."

* * *

In the other room, where Tagiru had said Ryouma was, Psychemon had just gotten to his friend's side when the boy started to wake up.

"...Psy...Psychemon?" Ryouma asked quietly, slowly opening his eyes. He had a terrible headache and didn't think he should sit up anytime soon.

"I'm here, Ryo."

"Don't call me that." Ryouma snapped. Psychemon smiled. He knew that would get his tamer back onto normal terms. Except for one person besides him, no-one else was allowed to call Ryouma by that nickname. Only that person and Psychemon knew Ryouma's nickname, anyway.

"...You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Psychemon shrugged.

"What do you think?"

"...You did." Ryouma sighed, "Did you tell anyone else?"

"No, why would I?"

"You want me to answer that?"

"No. No thank you." Ryouma smirked. He knew just how to get under Psychemon's skin and irritate the digimon, even in the most dire of situations.

"Is everyone else worried, too?"

"You want me to answer that?"

"...I'll take that as a yes." Ryouma said. Ever since he had gotten Psychemon back, he and his digimon sometimes got into this type of verbal play, which had cheered both of them up when either was feeling down.

"When are you going to sit up, Ryouma?" At that, the boy's smirk faded away to be replaced by a frown.

"I don't know, Psychemon. Right now, I have a bad headache and I don't want to risk making it worse if I even sit up."

"This just makes me worry more." Psychemon said sadly. Ryouma turned his head to look at the digimon for the first time since he awoke. He was surprised at those words.

"Is something wrong, Psychemon?"

"Yes." The digimon then explained everything that he had discussed with the others earlier. Afterwords, Ryouma turned his head to look up at the ceiling a confused and troubled look on his face.

"Psychemon..." he said slowly, "Something's wrong with me."

"What do you mean, Ryouma?"

"What you just explained, I feel like it should make sense, but it doesn't. I remember that you flew me to the place where the digimon was supposed to be, but I can't remember anything after that." Ryouma then put a hand on his forehead, "Something's wrong with me, Psychemon, and I don't think amnesia is the only thing." Now, Psychemon was worried. Ryouma was right. If he didn't remember anything after arriving at the battle ground, then that meant ShamanWereGarurumon didn't want him to remember anything about him, even their first encounter. Psychemon slowly and gently grabbed his friend's hand, squeezing it gently. Ryouma looked at him it surprise, and he gave a small smile.

"We'll figure this out, Ryouma. We'll get your memory back and find out what's wrong, don't worry. The others have even promised to keep an eye out for us, so we'll have them looking after us if something happens."

"What if something happens that they can't fix or comfort? Like...like..." Ryouma couldn't say the words, put Psychemon knew what he meant. If something happened to those he cared about, there would be no chance of helping him then. He had already lost two people close to him and had almost lost his digimon; He probably would break if he lost anyone else. Psychemon looked up again and was amazed to see tears, even though they were small, at the corner of his friend's eyes.

"You know that nightmare, Psychemon? The one I have every once in a while? While I was out, I had it again." At this, Psychemon was astonished. His eyes were wide and full of fear for the boy.

"What?"

"It was worse this time." Ryouma continued, ignoring the digimon's comment, "Everyone was gone. I was the only one left." By this time, the tears were free and streaming down the young teen's face. Psychemon knew what he was talking about. Ever since a certain bad event happened in Ryouma's past, before he came along, every so often the white-haired boy would have a horrible nightmare. A reoccurring one, no less. But, as Ryouma described when they happened, they keep getting worse each time. He had it at least once a year, and each time it was worse than the last. Psychemon knew that this one must have been bad, since Ryouma wasn't crying immensely, like last time, which meant he was in a bit of shock from it. He put his other hand on top of Ryouma's hand (which he still held with his other hand) and rubbed it in circles.

"It's gone now, Ryouma. It's not going to come back." he tried to reassure his friend. He knew it would come back it at least a year's time, but the best he could do was to tell his partner it wasn't coming back. One time, he had said it wasn't going to come back until the next year, which had made Ryouma so worried he wasn't able to sleep until Psychemon told him it wasn't coming back. He made a note of never saying that sentence to Ryouma ever again as well. After a while, the tears had subsided and Ryouma was just staring at the ceiling blankly.

"...Ryouma?" Psychemon tried asking. His tamer wasn't usually this quiet, even for him.

"I'm fine, Psychemon." he said as he sat up, his headache now completely gone, "Let's go, okay?"

"If you say so..."

* * *

They then left the room, going back to the others. Ryouma had let go of Psychemon's hand as soon as he got off the bed. Psychemon knew he probably didn't want to show weakness in front of the others, but it still worried him. Even if it had been an hour after he had the dream, Ryouma would still have needed comforting. Psychemon knew it from experience. Gumdramon and Shoutmon were missing when they got there, though.

"You guys okay? It was quiet in there." Opossumon asked.

"We're okay. Psychemon was just helping me get awake."

"You sure? It shouldn't have taken as long as it did." Mikey said.

"We're sure. Where are Gumdramon and Shoutmon, anyway?" Psychemon asked, looking around. Ryouma did as well.

"Well," Tagiru said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, "Shoutmon dragged Gumdramon off for questioning, since he couldn't seem to tell the whole story in front of everyone."

"Speaking of stories, there's one we need to tell you." This got everyone's attention.

"What story, exactly?" Ren asked.

"You see, after Psychemon explained to me everything you had talked about, I found out that something was wrong with me. I can't seem to remember anything after we arrived at the place where he said we fought against ShamanWereGarurumon." Ryouma explained, "After we got there, I can't remember anything."

"That's not good." Yuu said.

"Of course it's not good. That isn't the only thing that's worrisome." Shoutmon said from another room, coming back in and dragging Gumdramon behind him by the tail, who looked as though he wished to die right then and there.

"What else is there for us to worry about now?" Dracmon asked. Shoutmon gave him a blank look.

"Please tell me you didn't just say that. Saying that instantly means you jinxed us, you know." he said, facepalming. Anyway, he continued.

"I learned a bit more about what's going on in the criminal circuit from Gumdramon, and it isn't good. ShamanWereGarurumon _is_ an assassin and has a high rep as a crimelord, but those aren't the only things." He then held Gumdramon upside down by his tail, "Gumdramon also said that what Psychemon said before checks out, but that the digimon isn't just doing it for that reason. For one thing, he HATES humans; More than other digimon, too. It also seems that ShamanWereGarurumon has something big planned."

"Whatever it is, it's big alright." Gumdramon interrupted, "Before I left the DigiWorld and came to DigiQuartz, I managed to hear something about how ShamanWereGarurumon was coming here and that he was planning to use everything he stole in the past for a big plan of his. I also managed to overhear that it involves a certain digimon, who I don't know, and humans with wolf or dog digimon partners."

"Hideaki!" Tagiru suddenly said, eyes wide, "He's another Hunter who has a dog digimon!"

"Then we have to warn him!" Airu said as Shoutmon dropped Gumdramon, "He might be in danger right now!"

"Let's go!" Mikey said. As everyone cleared out of the room, he grabbed Ryouma's shoulder, effectively stopping him.

"Are you sure you're fine?" he asked.

"Wouldn't I have told you guys if something was wrong?" Ryouma shot back. Mikey smiled.

"You would. Now, let's catch up." he said, letting go of Ryouma's shoulder. They then both ran out of the room, following the others.

* * *

_**LONG...FIRST...CHAPTER! Ugh... What a long write... Anyway, review or PM! I want to know what you think!**_


	2. Chapter 2

Respect or Regret?

By: Aubrie1234

* * *

Luckily, Hideaki was fine, but he promised to keep an eye out for the digimon and tell them if he saw it. Afterwords, the Hunters were trying to decide who should go home with Ryouma and keep an eye on him. Ryouma didn't really care, saying he was tired and wanted to get home. Psychemon knew the real reason, however. Ryouma wanted to check up on his family. He didn't mention this to the others, of course, but he knew. Ryouma couldn't go a day without checking up on his family in person. That he knew for certain.

* * *

Later, since he spoke up about how he didn't feel any different, the Hunters nominated Psychemon to keep an eye on Ryouma and himself. He was doing just that as he flew Ryouma home as Astamon. Ryouma was unnaturally quiet for some reason.

"...Ryo?" he asked hesitantly.

"Don't call me that." the boy snapped, fiercer than normal. He flinched in response.

"I was just wondering why you've been so quiet. It's not like you to be this quiet, and especially not this snappy." he said. He could feel Ryouma slouch slightly from where the boy was riding on his back, below his neck but only by a few inches.

"Sorry Astamon. It's just..." he sighed, "I don't know. I can't seem to remember anything about that digimon we fought and its been nagging me ever since. I feel like I should know that digimon for more than one reason, but I can't figure out why."

"I'm sure we'll figure it out soon." he said. He knew that was probably a lie, but he wanted to reassure the boy. Seeing his best friend like this hurt him worse than the most terrible wound. Ryouma gave him a sad smile as they landed in front of the DigiQuartz version of his apartment. This version wasn't too far from the truth, in Real World terms. The place was completely abandoned except for him and his family, though it was still as good a shape as it was before it was closed down; which was better than a regular house and almost as good as a 4-star hotel. It's a wonder how no-one's put it back into circulation yet, because of how nice it still is; Even more impressive is how no-one's torn it down yet. This is also the same sentence Ryouma mused over every time he came home. This time, however, he didn't; he just wanted to get back to his apartment.

* * *

In just 5 minutes, he had ran to the outside of his apartment, breathing heavily. After he caught his breath and time-shifted back to the Real World, he unlocked the door and entered. Immediately, a young girl, about 8 or so, with silver hair and green eyes ran up to him and hugged his legs tightly.

"Ryo! Where did you go? You were gone so long, I was afraid you might not come back..." she sobbed softly. His eyes softened and he crouched down, bringing her eyes up to meet his.

"Ava, you know I would never leave you if I had the choice. I'm the only one who can take care of you, and I'm not about to go back on that." he said. Psychemon smiled. Ava was the only family Ryouma had left and it was his job to take care of her, since she _was_ his little sister. He had also kept the secret so well-hidden that even Ren and Airu had no idea where he lived or anything about his family. But, since Ryouma had to take care of his sister most of the time, he home-schooled himself; Psychemon had helped with that after he had hatched out of his digiegg. Luckily, Ava was a smart girl and could take care of herself for most of the day, so that gave Ryouma time to learn more about Digimon from Psychemon and go on a Digimon Hunt sometimes. The only things Ava couldn't do were fix a meal for herself and getting to sleep. Fixing a meal was understandable; the sleeping part was confusing. Ava, for some reason, couldn't go to sleep unless Ryouma slept with her or when he sung her a lullaby. But, the strangest thing of all, was that Ava's only lullaby was more of an up-beat rock song from America. _Livin' On A Prayer_, Psychemon thought it was called. It was an American song, but she loved it just the same. It was the only song that would put her to sleep. Ava then turned her gaze to the digimon.

"Yay! It's Psychemon!" she squealed, letting go of her brother to pounce on the poor digimon. He was knocked out of his thoughts by this and was very surprised. Ryouma laughed at the look on his face before taking off his shoes (replacing them for slippers) and sitting down to watch what would happen next. Psychemon blinked, looked down at the snuggling ball of clothes and long silver hair on top of him, and sighed.

"Hello, Ava."

"Let's play, let's play, let's PLAY!" she said, jumping up and down on his tummy. There were several 'oof's and tries of getting his breathing back before he agreed. Even for an eight-year-old, it felt like she was crushing him. She was only like, what, 55 pounds? Ryouma, however, was smiling and it grew immensely before Psychemon had agreed. He was on the verge of laughing at the fate of his digimon, much to Psychemon's chagrin.

"Yay! DRESS-UP AND TEA PARTY TIME!" All of Psychemon's color visibly became quite dull as he paled. Ryouma could barely keep in his laughter as Ava dragged the digimon to her bedroom, a horrified look frozen on his face. As soon as Ava and poor Psychemon were out of earshot, Ryouma burst out laughing. He couldn't help it and besides, he needed it after a tense day. It took him a while, but he eventually calmed down enough to stop.

_I haven't laughed like that since I started Hunting._ he thought, but then his face took on a sad expression, _Which was also the last time I ever really saw Ava or Psychemon this happy. I never want them to be hurt by my actions ever again. But, I can't change the past. I have to look towards the future, not reminisce over what I've done. _He then sighed before standing up and heading to the small kitchen, hoping to make a meal before Psychemon started pleading to be let go and obviously being denied, which would make him go in there and tell Ava to leave Psychemon alone for the time being. She would whine as usual before finding something else to do while Psychemon would praise Ryouma for saving him.

* * *

Ryouma had just gone back into his room and was now reading a book by lamplight. Psychemon had (surprisingly) not called for help and had endured tea time. He had probably done that to keep stress off of Ryouma because of what happened earlier that day. Anyway, after dinner, Psychemon had watched some TV with Ava until it was time to go to bed. Ryouma sang her to sleep and had gotten dressed for bed, which then led up to now. Ava had invented a special bed for Psychemon to sleep in a while back, which he was now sleeping in on the other side of Ryouma's room. Ava was very smart for an 8-year-old and there was almost nothing she didn't understand. Back to Ryouma: he was reading his book until an hour later, where he put the bookmark inside it, put it on his nightstand, and turned out the light, going to sleep. However, that night's sleep wasn't going to last long.

* * *

_"Stay back, Ryouma. Keep Ava out of sight."_

_"Stay away from our children!"_

_"Ryouma... Please, protect Ava... No matter what..."_

_"He'll come back again... All too soon if he knows about the two of you..."_

* * *

Ryouma shot up in bed, panting. He was shivering slightly and covered in a cold sweat. Psychemon was by his side, looking at him with fearful eyes. Ava was there as well, holding his left hand with sad eyes. She had gone through this same scenario for several years already.

"It's okay now, Ryo." she said, gently patting his hand. He didn't hear her, concentrating on his nightmare. Before, it had been a bunch of twisted images. After ShamanWereGarurumon had attacked, it had gotten a bit clearer, but not entirely. Right then, though, he managed to make out voices. Two voices he knew all too well.

_Mom... Dad... _he thought, tears starting to well up in his eyes. Psychemon was surprised, but not Ava. She seemed to know what was going on, somehow. She always did.

"Ryouma, are you alright? You were tossing and turning and whimpering. I was just about to get Ava when she came in." Psychemon explained. Ryouma barely heard him.

"My nightmare... It was worse this time. I heard Mom and Dad telling me to keep Ava safe and out of sight..." Ryouma muttered, bringing his legs closer to his chest and wrapping his arms around them (Ava's hand had slipped out of his as he moved it away), resting his head on top. He tightly shut his eyes.

"This nightmare is becoming too much!" He then looked at them with teary eyes, "I want this to end. I don't think I can take it much longer."

"I know you can, big brother. I'm always here to help, and so is Psychemon." Ava said. Ryouma smiled. And gently wrapped his arms around his sister.

"Thank you, Ava. You don't know how long I've wanted someone to say that to me, even though you and Psychemon have for the past few years." he said, then pulled away, "Now, why are you up?" She yawned slightly.

"Even though you sang to me, I couldn't get to sleep." Ryouma chuckled, then stood up and picked her up.

"Then how about I sleep with you? It might be better for the both of us." Ava barely heard him. Her eyelids were already drooping. He walked out, leaving Psychemon to turn out the lights, which he did. He then went to Ava's room and peeked inside. Ava's room was very big and had a Twin bed, in case Ryouma ever had to sleep with his sister (which he did, occasionally). The room had many stuffed animals all over the place and posters hanging on the walls, which were covered in pink wall paper. Ryouma was already asleep with Ava laying against him, also asleep. Psychemon smiled, then slowly and quietly closed the door.

"You deserve some rest after today, sir." Psychemon said, then returned to his bed and went to sleep.

* * *

_**Happy New Year! Sorry if this took so long to make, but I wasn't in the mood for Digimon lately. Just Code Lyoko. By the way, I'm thinking of making a Code Lyoko story, not a crossover. Tell me if you guys want one, and please read and review!**_


	3. Chapter 3

Respect or Regret?

By: Aubrie1234

* * *

Psychemon yawned as he woke up. With a cat-like stretch, he stood from his bed and went to check on Ryouma and Ava, hoping his master had a good night's sleep. Slowing opening the door, he saw the two still asleep, but something didn't look right. He didn't remember Ava having silver covers before. He quietly came closer and saw that they weren't actually covers at all; in fact, it was Ryouma's hair! It was much longer than before, and he had a long, silver tail, like a Renamon's; what had happened to him last night? **(Ryouma looks similar to Marc and Rupert from my **_**Operation: Werewolf **_**and **_**Fossil Fighters: Champions: My Journey After The Final Battle **_**stories****) **Psychemon gently shook Ryouma awake, careful to not disturb Ava. Ryouma shifted with a groan and blinked open his eyes.

"Psychemon?" he asked tiredly. Ava also shifted, but did not wake.

"Sir, there's something you need to see."

"Could it wait?"

"No sir." Ryouma sighed before moving his arm out from under Ava, trying not to wake her, and sat up. He then noticed what he looked like, including claws on his hands and feet.

"...Psychemon..." he said slowly, trying to understand what was going on, "What happened to me?" The digimon shook his head.

"I have no idea, Ryo." Ryouma bored his teeth at the digimon and growled, exposing sharper teeth as well. Psychemon flinched away and, seeing what he had done, made him crestfallen.

"Psychemon- I didn't mean- I'm so-" The digimon shook his head.

"It's okay. You've also got sharper teeth." The boy ran a hand over his teeth and felt their sharp edges. His hand fell to his lap as he hung his head, avoiding his partner's eyes.

"What did he do to me? What _am_ I?" Psychemon mentally swore to get back at ShamanWereGarurumon for what he did; his heart hurt at seeing his friend so sad. He grabbed Ryouma's hand, but the boy didn't respond.

"We can handle this, and we should tell the others. They would know what to do." Ryouma didn't respond. When Psychemon made to pull his paw away, however, Ryouma's slack grip became vice-like.

"Don't leave, please." It was so quiet that Psychemon barely heard him, but he stayed anyway. They stayed in those positions for a few minutes until Ava woke up. When she saw Ryouma, she was instantly up and hugging him, making him snap out of his worry and let go of Psychemon.

"Ryo, how did you get so fluffy?!" Psychemon sniggered as Ryouma blushed bright red.

"I don't know." he sighed, "And, anyway, why don't we go have some breakfast?" Ava cheered and ran out of the room. Before they left, however, Ryouma turned to Psychemon.

"I want you to leave and get the others, please." The digimon nodded and made for the door. Before he left, Ryouma said one more thing.

"And don't worry, I'll save you some breakfast." Psychemon smiled and left, happy that his friend was at least somewhat normal again.

* * *

Mikey wasn't sure what to think when Yuu had called and asked for him to come to DigiQuartz, and that it was important. When he and Shoutmon arrived, they found Ren, Tagiru, and Airu there as well as Yuu, their digimon, and Psychemon. Ryouma was nowhere in sight.

"Glad you all could make it." Yuu said, "Psychemon's got something important he wanted to tell all of us."

"That's right." the brightly-colored digimon said, "See, something happened to Ryouma overnight, and we're very certain that ShamanWereGarurumon caused it. He has claws, really long hair, sharp teeth, _and_ a tail. It's almost like he's a beast himself now."

"But why are you here alone?" Dracmon asked.

"Ryouma asked me to come. He had something else to do, so he couldn't leave."

"What was so important that he asked you to come and find us, in broad daylight?" Tagiru asked.

"You'll see when we get there." Psychemon said, "Since none of you know where to find it, I'll also have to guide you guys there."

* * *

Ren had switched Dracmon out for Pteramon, who carried him, Airu, and Psychemon while Arresterdramon carried Tagiru, Yuu, and Damemon; OmegaShoutmon was carrying Mikey as they flew through DigiQuartz, following Psychemon's directions.

"Now that I think about it, we never really learned anything about Ryouma's personal life." Airu said suddenly, "Why didn't Ryouma tell us, Psychemon? Didn't he trust us?"

"Well, remember, back then, we didn't really trust each other at all." he said, "Also, that's not my story to tell. You'll need to ask Ryouma himself, though I think I know what the answer will be." They continued on in silence until Psychemon spotted the apartment.

"There it is!" They descended and entered, where Psychemon led them to the door of Ryouma's apartment before they exited DigiQuartz.

"Why do you guys _live _in this place? It's abandoned." Gumdramon asked as they looked around.

"Ryouma will explain everything, I promise." Psychemon knocked on the door.

* * *

Ava had finished breakfast minutes ago and they had been watching some cartoons together until there came some knocks on the door.

"Ava, could you go to your room, please? Some of my friends are here."

"Could I meet them?"

"Maybe." Ava pouted as Ryouma turned the tv off and stood, dragging her with him.

"Why can't I get to meet them quickly?"

"I trust them, but I also want to protect you. So, please do as I ask." She went off to her room and after making sure her room's door was closed, Ryouma went to answer the front door. He opened it just a crack and saw his friends.

"Great. You guys are here. Do you promise not to freak out?"

"Psychemon already told us what you looked like, so I think we can handle it." Opossumon said. Ryouma sighed.

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you..." He opened the door all the way, and they found out that Ryouma also had a bit of a height difference. He was now at least two inches taller than Mikey, who had been the tallest. Ryouma then turned to Psychemon.

"Thanks for bringing them." he then looked at the others, "Anyway, come inside." They followed him in and he gestured to the living room.

"Make yourselves at home, because you'll probably want a full explanation." Airu, Yuu, and Ren took the couch with their partners in their laps, Mikey, Shoutmon, and Psychemon stood, and Tagiru (with Gumdramon in his lap) took the wooden rocking chair, which he had a little fun with.

"Wow! No one has rocking chairs like this one anymore, Ryouma! It even creaks!" Alarmed at how hard he was rocking it, Ryouma quickly rushed over to steady the chair.

"Don't do that!" he snarled, "The chair can't take how hard you rocked it! It's very old, and it used to be my grandmother's." His eyes trailed to look at the floor after that and Tagiru stopped rocking.

"Sorry." Ryouma shook his head.

"It's fine. Just don't rock it so hard, okay?" Tagiru nodded as Ryouma let go, "By the way, can you guys keep a secret?"

"Of course." Shoutmon said. Ryouma looked hard into the dragon digimon's eyes.

"I don't think you understand how serious the question is." he said, "I want you to keep this secret VERY well hidden and never speak a word of it to anyone unless I give permission. That includes taking the secret to _your graves_ if needed." They looked at each other uneasily; Ryouma was dead serious on the question, and it seemed he didn't want anyone to know the secret. At least, not unless they promised they wouldn't say a word about it, even if it meant taking the secret to their deaths.

"We won't tell a soul." Mikey said, "We promise." Everyone nodded. Ryouma slowly looked at all of them, then nodded slowly.

"Good." he turned to leave the room, "There's someone I want you to meet." He left.

"What's so important about this secret he wants us to keep?" Gumdramon asked.

"More than anything. It means the world to him." Psychemon spoke, "It's so important and special that he would take on Quartzmon himself and alone, without any help."

"That's really important." Ren said. Just then, Ryouma came back, and there was a little girl clinging to his hand.

"Everyone, this is Ava, my 8-year-old little sister." She waved at them.

"Hi, Mr. Mikey, Mr. Shoutmon, Mr. Tagiru, Mr. Gumdramon, Mr. Ren, Mr. Dracmon, Mr. Yuu, Mr. Damemon, Ms. Airu, and Ms. Opossumon." she said, "Ryo's told me a lot about you!" At their confused looks, Ryouma continued.

"She calls me Ryo for short." he turned to his little sister, "Would you like to have a tea party with the digimon? I need to talk to the others for a while." Psychemon had paled at the mention of 'tea party'.

"Tea party?!" he squeaked before making a mad dash to hide under the couch, only his tail showing, which was shaking in dread. This made the digimon look at each other warily as Ava squealed.

"Yay! Another tea party!"

"Do we have to?" Opossumon asked. Ava was already pulling Psychemon out from under the couch.

"It's not all that bad if you're a spectator. She just dresses you up and has you do an imaginary tea party with her. It sometimes involves make-up as well." Ryouma said. All the boy digimon looked at each other in fear as Opossumon instantly agreed to play. Psychemon was then dragged, whimpering, out from under the couch.

"Please, can't we do something else?!" he cried.

"Ryo said tea party, so we're doing a tea party!" He dug his claws into the floor, whimpering louder, as she dragged him to her room. Opossumon followed, and the boy digimon made to leave. Before they did, however, they had one last wish.

"I hope we survive, dame dame." They left and Ryouma closed Ava's bedroom door behind them. He then returned and sighed.

"So, where should we start?"

"Why didn't you tell us about your personal life?" Ren said, "And what's the big secret you want us to keep?"

"Ava's the big secret." the silver-haired boy responded, "Besides, my past isn't all sunshine and rainbows, unlike your's." he growled out the last part.

"What do you mean?" Yuu asked. Ryouma sat on the floor.

"What I'm about to tell you isn't easy to talk about." he said, "When I was younger, until I was eight and Ava was four, we had parents. Our dad was Akio and mom was Haruko. They both had silver hair, but mom had blue eyes while dad had green. They were the best parents ever, until one night four years ago." Ryouma could feel his hands shaking and tears in his eyes, "We had just gone out for an evening walk, the four of us, and then... something happened. I can't remember it too well, and I don't think I want to, because they were... were... _killed_." He had to grit his teeth and choked back sobs before managing to continue, "Someone killed them, but before they died, they told me to hide and protect myself and Ava. So, taking her hand, we ran the whole night, until ending up here. It was abandoned, just like now, and it had running water and electricity, but it didn't have food. Because of that, I had to take on small jobs, buy us food, and I had to learn to do so many things, including teaching Ava. She was all I had left, and I didn't want to loose her; I still don't. And, eventually, I didn't have to do the jobs so often, because we had enough money saved back to buy what we needed and some extra stuff; I did go out and do a job or two to keep the money up, but then Psychemon came along a year after all that. After he came, he watch Ava and helped me study, even if, at times, he _was_ Quartzmon." Ryouma sighed, "It's been this way ever since." He felt a hand on his shoulder and when he looked up, he saw the others standing around him while Mikey had crouched down and put his hand on Ryouma's shoulder.

"We're sorry for what happened, Ryouma, and I don't blame you for keeping it a secret for so long." the General said, "If there's anything you need from us, we'd be happy to help." When Ryouma looked at the others and saw their nods, he cried happy tears and hugged Mikey, sobbing happily; he finally had someone to lean on, to tell problems, and they would help keep Ava a secret, just as he had asked. After a while, he pushed away and wiped his tears on his sleeve.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that; to have someone besides my family for me to trust and to lean on. But, now that I think about it, and I don't want to be rude, but we're starting to run low on food." he leaned away from Mikey, "We've got enough money to buy some, but I can't go out like this. You know how people would react." Ryouma then looked towards Ava's room, "And Psychemon should have been screaming the whole time, I'm pretty sure. He hates playing tea party more than anything."

"Maybe Ava gagged him." Tagiru said.

"No, she'd most likely just lock him in the closet. And, speaking of which, the other boys should have also been screaming."

"Well, if you door's thick, then you wouldn't be able to hear their screams that much. So, we should probably check on them." Ren said. Everyone nodded and, with help from his friends, Ryouma stood up and they made their way to Ava's room. Upon opening the door, they saw a sight that made all the boys break out laughing and made Airu squeal at the cuteness of it all. All the boy digimon were wearing dresses, bows, and messily-applied make-up, and fainted all over the floor (including Shoutmon), and Opossumon was playing tea party well with Ava, also dressed with bows, make-up, and a frilly pink dress.

"They fainted once they looked in the mirror." Opossumon explained, "Except Psychemon. He was in a dead faint the second he saw the dress he was going to wear."

"Oh, oh, it hurts so much, but it was worth it!" Mikey said, laughing.

"They're going to be _so_ mad at us when they wake up, though!" Yuu said, also laughing.

"Still worth it!" Airu said as she hugged the cute Opossumon.

* * *

_**Sorry it took so long for this chapter, but now you see Ryouma's past. Also, think about his nightmare in the last chapter. Is that what his parents told him, as their last words? And why can't he remember what happened? Is the nightmare and the memory connected? Well, we'll have to wait and see. See you next time, guys!**_


End file.
